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Honestly? It isn't sustainable and its not a productive use of capital. This lifestyle is going to implode when the economy stumbles.

YuriNiyazov 11y ago
Yea, no. JM Keynes said eons ago that with increases in efficiency we will eventually be able to get to a 15-hour work week. So, a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that, and the counter-argument is that this is not a productive use of capital? Besides, TFA complains that all these people are working on silly startups, which is presumably not a productive use of capital either. You can't have it both ways.
- munificent 11y ago
  > a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that On the backs of whom? How much are those Uber drivers, grocery deliverers, and artisanal salad chefs making? It is good that one group of people is moving forward, we just have to be careful that we aren't doing it at the expense of other groups. The impression I get is that in the US today, it's not just that some people are getting richer, many others are getting poorer.
  - YuriNiyazov 11y ago
    I'm confused. At least in this subthread we are discussing just the sabbatical part here, not the general economic inequality. Are you saying that someone who has enough money to take a sabbatical is doing it on the backs of uber drivers and grocery deliverers?
  - acchow 11y ago
    > On the backs of whom? I don't believe there is such a law of economics.
- matzipan 11y ago
  Seriously, most tech startups are not bringing a bump in productivity, but are a mere pixel moving money waste for VCs, who don't really care if about the 9 failures if 1 startup pays off massively. The problem is that VC's don't even care about profitability anymore, they only care about being bought-off by next stage VCs. So all the money actually comes from 1 ad supported startup which became profitable and the losses for all the others were written off.
gremy0 11y ago
Most countries outside the US manage just fine with decent statutory leave.
emcq 11y ago
What are you measuring in terms of productivity? The employee certainly improves their value in terms of skills acquired during a sabbatical. The employee also gains significantly in terms of value of life experiences when they take time to travel, support kids, etc. Certainly there are unproductive poor team players who dissapear whenever trouble happens but we shouldn't set our policies based on this minority.

YuriNiyazov 11y ago

Yea, no. JM Keynes said eons ago that with increases in efficiency we will eventually be able to get to a 15-hour work week. So, a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that, and the counter-argument is that this is not a productive use of capital? Besides, TFA complains that all these people are working on silly startups, which is presumably not a productive use of capital either. You can't have it both ways.

munificent 11y ago
> a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that On the backs of whom? How much are those Uber drivers, grocery deliverers, and artisanal salad chefs making? It is good that one group of people is moving forward, we just have to be careful that we aren't doing it at the expense of other groups. The impression I get is that in the US today, it's not just that some people are getting richer, many others are getting poorer.
- YuriNiyazov 11y ago
  I'm confused. At least in this subthread we are discussing just the sabbatical part here, not the general economic inequality. Are you saying that someone who has enough money to take a sabbatical is doing it on the backs of uber drivers and grocery deliverers?
- acchow 11y ago
  > On the backs of whom? I don't believe there is such a law of economics.
matzipan 11y ago
Seriously, most tech startups are not bringing a bump in productivity, but are a mere pixel moving money waste for VCs, who don't really care if about the 9 failures if 1 startup pays off massively. The problem is that VC's don't even care about profitability anymore, they only care about being bought-off by next stage VCs. So all the money actually comes from 1 ad supported startup which became profitable and the losses for all the others were written off.

gremy0 11y ago

Most countries outside the US manage just fine with decent statutory leave.

emcq 11y ago

What are you measuring in terms of productivity? The employee certainly improves their value in terms of skills acquired during a sabbatical. The employee also gains significantly in terms of value of life experiences when they take time to travel, support kids, etc. Certainly there are unproductive poor team players who dissapear whenever trouble happens but we shouldn't set our policies based on this minority.